Parliament bosses let taxpayers shell out £1m for Holyrood's wasted granite

Oct 12 2008 By Charles Lavery

ALMOST £1million of taxpayers' cash has been squandered on this secret mountain of unused granite for the Scottish Parliament.

It was bought to cobble a historic road in front of Holyrood - but the project was scrapped and the stone has now been given away for FREE.

The 400 giant crates of granite are now gathering dust in a field owned by a Tory baron's family.

The cost to taxpayers includes:

£300,000 on the unused stones.

More than £110,000 to Bovis to store the granite.

An estimated £10,000 in transportation costs.

And £500,000 compensation to visitor attraction Our Dynamic Earth for loss of revenue while the road was closed.

The granite was to be used to recobble Edinburgh's Horse Wynd but a row over costs saw tarmac being laid instead.

The stones have since been gifted to Edinburgh City Council who gave them away to a private developer they refused to name.

The developer has rented space on Whelpside sheep farm in Balerno, Midlothian, owned by Tory Sir David Thomson's family.

Our exclusive pictures show the granite taking up 1800 square metres and still tagged with the initials SPCB - Scottish Parliament Corporate Body - but some blocks show signs of crumbling and some crates have burst open.

An insider said: "The stones have been forgotten about by most people - but what better illustration of the waste of public money on this project?

"They are lying unused in a field of no benefit to the public who paid for them and nobody seems to have a clue as to what will be done with them."

Horse Wynd was closed for resurfacing in 2002.

Planners insisted the road be cobbled in granite in keeping with the area's historic feel but a row over cost meant tarmac was laid. Historic Scotland also claimed the wrong type of stone had been bought by construction bosses.

Nearby attraction Our Dynamic Earth lost revenue due to the road's closure so received £500,000 compensation.

The council also guaranteed a £400,000 overdraft for the centre.

The granite was then stored by parliament contractors Bovis from 2003 until earlier this year - at a cost of £18,450 annually.

In June parliament bosses gifted the granite to City of Edinburgh Council who then gave it away.

It is now housed on the farm belonging to Sir David's family.

The 68-year-old is one of Scotland's wealthiest landowners and owns Holylee in Walkerburn, Peeblesshire, a £20million B-listed pile overlooking the River Tweed.

He said: "They are at Whelpside, which is owned by my son Simon. I don't know how much we charge them but it's not a great sum - certainly not enough to retire to the Bahamas."

Margo MacDonald, independent MSP for the Lothians, slammed the waste of cash.

She said: "This is sheer cowardice and unacceptable.

"I knew they were in a field somewhere and was trying to find out where because some brave person should bite the bullet here and lay them in Horse Wynd.

"It would form a central part of making the parliament the site it should be."

A Parliament spokesman said: "The agreement to tarmac meant not having to spend approximately £1.5million on further changes to Horse Wynd.

"The setts were transferred to the council for use in another publicly funded development."

Edinburgh City Council said: "We expect they will be used in a public realm project in the Old Town.

"There was no financial cost to the council."

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